Such a system can be used to transport components to a robot comprising a handling arm, which will grasp the components on the plate. In many fields, such as electronics or horology, the components are conveyed in bulk on assembly lines. To be able to use them in an automated process, it is necessary to provide a supply system. Supply systems already exist for components of average to large size (>3 mm2), such as vibrating bowls or centrifuges. However, the process of supplying small components, smaller than 3 mm2, is still very poorly mastered and is left largely to chance. This comes from the fact that the stresses and forces present for the small components, such as capillarity and electrostatics, come into play and compete with the gravitational force, used in the traditional techniques cited above for the larger components. These “parasitic” forces cause “adhesion” of the components to each other or against the surrounding surfaces, such that the supply systems traditionally used for components of average to large size cannot be used in the field of small components.
Small component supply systems have been developed and for the most part comprise a vibrating plate forming a grasping surface, on which the components must be separated from each other as well as possible, and have the orientation most favorable to grasping by the robot.
Such systems are for example described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,028,829 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,598,730. These systems comprise plates arranged to vibrate only in a vertical direction. However, these systems lack efficiency and do not make it possible to supply the robot suitably when it involves transporting small components.
Furthermore, the supply systems are generally equipped with an element to recover components fallen from the vibrating plate and return them to circulation. One such element is for example described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,598,730. It consists of a vertically mobile element that is inserted between the storage reservoir and the vibrating plate, to allow the components to fall by gravity from the reservoir to the vibrating plate. However, the movement of the components between the storage reservoir, the recirculation element and the vibrating plate is due solely to gravity, the storage reservoir and the recirculation element having downwardly slanted walls. Such a device therefore requires a larger bulk due to the place taken up by the slanted storage reservoir. Moreover, it cannot be used when the transport of the components is done using a linear conveyor, the components not being able to move by gravity between the conveyor and the recirculation element.
Application WO 2007/109109 describes a device and a method for applying a movement to one or more items, consisting in particular of placing this or these item(s) on a surface of a support member and applying a vibrational movement to the support member by vibrating actuators connected thereto, the vibrational movement comprising at least one vibratory component rotating around one or more axes out of alignment in relation to the gravity vector in order to produce effective force fields on the surface. More particularly, the support member is a plate that vibrates with six degrees of freedom, under the action of eight linear actuators arranged so as to exert forces and torques on the plate in arbitrary directions at all times. This system has the drawbacks of being complex and bulky. Moreover, it has the drawback of generating, in all cases, at least one rotation of the surface of the support member. This rotation creates different accelerations on the components depending on their position relative to the axis of rotation. If the components are on the axis of rotation, they will move little. On the other hand, if they are remote, they will undergo great acceleration. This effect is harmful in the context of a supply of components for which one seeks to act on the entire surface with the same vibrational effects so as to have homogenous behavior of the components.
One aim of the present invention is therefore to offset these drawbacks, by proposing a system for supplying components allowing effective separation and orientation of said components.
Another aim of the present invention is to propose a system for supplying components that is particularly suitable for transporting small components, as defined above.
Another aim of the present invention is to propose a system for supplying components making it possible to easily return the components to circulation, in particular when the conveyor used to transport the components is a linear conveyor.